Pizzazz
Source: IDW Jem Birthdays (Kelly Thompson; @1979semifinalist) |family=Harvey Gabor (father) Madmartigan (pet cat) Unnamed Mother |instruments=Lead vocals, Guitar |occupations=Singer |debut=Issue #2 |gender= |height=5'11" |hair=Green with pink highlights |eyes=Green |loves=Music, leather, and curly fries |hates=Jem and the Holograms (and too many things to list, really) |guilty_pleasure=Extravagant spa days |prized_possession=1951 Fender Stratocaster |voted_most_likely_to=Totally dominate! |deepest_secret=Was in beauty pageants as a child. Her talent was singing, but she sang only country songs. |status=Alive |affiliations=The Misfits |previous_affiliations= }} Pizzazz is the lead singer of The Misfits and the comic's primary antagonist. Biography Early Life Pizzazz was born Phyllis Gabor. While we do not know much about her upbringing, she is very distant from her father, Harvey, who is more interested in money and running his business than caring for her. As a child, she was entered into beauty pageants, where her talent was singing, and she performed country songs.| IDW Characters Bio Pizzazz's parents divorced when she was in her teenage years. Neither of them showed up to the divorce proceedings, instead leaving their lawyer to inform Pizzazz of the custody arrangements. The Misfits, Issue 1 In her early 20s, around three years before the beginning of the series, she was scouting local talent and eventually hand-picked a few musicians to join her new band, The Misfits. The Misfits, Issue 1 Main Series Pizzazz was first introduced on Lin-Z's show, where The Misfits were performing their latest song to promote the upcoming Misfits VS! competition. Pizzazz was tired of the poor quality of the competition entries, until Jem and The Holograms' last-minute entry grew wildly popular, rocketing them to the list of contest finalists and causing Pizzazz to be determined to defeat them at the battle of the bands. On the day of the competition, Kimber recognized Clash from an earlier mishap at The Starlight Foundation concert, and blamed the Misfits for trying to kill Jem and injuring Aja in the process Jem and The Holograms, Issue 4. She started a public food fight with the Misfits just before the Misfits VS! competition, which disqualified them from the event. At the festival, the Misfits played a full set to make up for fact that they only had two finalists to compete against, but ended up having their crowd drawn away by the Holograms performing outside the venue. Jem and The Holograms, Issue 6 As a result, the Misfits decided to crash the Holograms' costume party. During the party, Pizzazz found out that the Holograms would be opening for the Misfits on their upcoming West Coast Tour, and storms out of the party, leaving her bandmates behind. As she drove, she received a call from her angry bandmates and went to answer it, which distracted her just long enough to flip off of a cliff to the side of the road and crash. Jem and The Holograms, Issue 9 The crash left Pizzazz with a fractured larynx Jem and The Holograms, Issue 10, and the Misfits were unable to convince Elise to reschedule their tour. She fell into a deep depression after the Misfits found a temporary replacement vocalist in Blaze and left to go on tour. Pizzazz kept to herself at home as she recovered, feeling very miserable and lonely, until she decided to do something about it. She caught up with the tour and arrived just in time to team up with Jem and the Holograms in order to stop Silica and return everyone to normal. Jem and The Holograms, Issue 16 After the tour was cut short, the Misfits were going through some growing pains now that they had two lead vocalists. If they'd been any other band, Elise would have been more forgiving. As it was, they'd caused her enough trouble that they were given an ultimatum: the band had 48 hours to either sound like the old Misfits, or figure out how to sound like a new and improved version. Pizzazz, upset that Elise kicked the Misfits from the studio when they needed time to practice, overheard Elise and Riot discussing the Stingers' terms for signing with 5x5 Records, one of which included dropping the Misfits from the label. Jem and The Holograms, Issue 19 They received the bad news about being dropped from the 5x5 label the next day. Pizzazz took the news personally and took it upon herself to sabotage Jem and The Stingers both out of revenge, recruiting The Fox to infiltrate Jem and the Holograms and try to find some dirt on them. The Fox found nothing damning, but did leave the Holograms in a lurch at 5x5's masquerade ball. Jem and The Holograms, Issue 22 After 5x5 revealed how much trouble they'd had with the Misfits, no other label wanted to sign them. Despite Eric's best efforts, the Misfits had exactly two options at that point: agree to be on a reality television show, or perform on a cruise line. The Misfits, Issue 1 The Misfits The Misfits all moved into Pizzazz's home temporarily, for the duration of the reality show filming. As expected, there were numerous conflicts in their daily lives, beginning immediately after everyone began moving in. Stormer initially refused to sign the filming contracts, until she and Pizzazz discussed her misgivings. Pizzazz didn't understand what the problem was until Stormer explained further. Ultimately, they decided it would be Stormer's choice whether she wanted to go through with the reality show or not. With Pizzazz's support, Stormer signed the contracts. The Misfits, Issue 2 Blaze formed a secret side band and kept ducking out of band practice as soon as it ended in order to go practice with The Lunas, to the point where the Misfits noticed her strange behavior. She initially hadn't wanted to tell Pizzazz about the band out of fear for her getting angry, but realized that her dream was to be the lead in a band and that she might have to quit the Misfits in order to fulfill this dream. Pizzazz reassured her that being in more than one band was perfectly fine and that she didn't have to leave the Misfits. The Misfits, Issue 3 Pizzazz and Roxy butted heads over seemingly insignificant things such as where they'd moved Roxy's bagels The Misfits, Issue 4, the reason for which wasn't revealed until after Jetta confessed to the cameras that she wasn't really British The Misfits, Issue 5. After Jetta shared her life story with the Misfits, they questioned why she decided to reveal her secret on the show when the producers hadn't suspected a thing. Roxy promptly told the band that it was to keep the cameras away from her, because the film crew had been dangerously close to discovering her illiteracy, something that only Jetta had known about until that moment. Once the series had finished filming, the Misfits were much closer. The show was a hit and the Misfits were launched back into the public eye with brand new music, produced by none other than their new label, Misfits Music. The Misfits, Issue 5 Infinite When Jem and the Holograms were approached by a strange Techrat and brought through a strange portal, the Misfits followed -- and found themselves in an alternate universe. Infinite, Issue 1 This alternate universe was ruled by JemCorp, with Jem as far as the eye could see -- Jem songs filled the air and there was hologram technology as far as the eye could see. It seemed like a perfect world, walled off from the outside world, until Pizzazz and her band ventured beyond the wall to see what life ruled by JemCorp was really like. Infinite, Issue 2 They came across that reality's Kimber and Stormer, and discovered that the Misfits of that universe had been killed while speaking out against the use of Synergy's holographic technology and promptly erased from history. In that reality, Pizzazz had discovered the truth about Synergy and the Jem hologram, and revealed it to the world out of revenge. This plan backfired, and the government seized Synergy's hologram technology. After the wrong people got their hands on the technology, JemCorp was formed to regulate access to hologram tech and soon began pushing Jem and the Holograms more and more into the public eye, elevating them to an almost god-like status. The people who had been forced out past the wall had began forming a resistance thanks to Stormer and Kimber. Infinite, Issue 4 The Misfits and the Holograms reunited back inside the city, and worked together to disrupt the Holograms' concert to show everyone the truth about JemCorp's manipulation. Infinite, Issue 5 They also opened the gates to the world beyond the wall, reuniting people with their loved ones. Once back in their own universe, Pizzazz was sworn to secrecy about Jem and Synergy. Infinite, Issue 6 Physical Appearance Pizzazz is the tallest of the Misfits, standing at 5'11". She has green hair, occasionally with pink highlights. She keeps her hair in a variety of styles, but often styles it in an edgy fashion when performing. She is very pale and never tans. Pizzazz can often be seen wearing animal print or skulls. She also often wears large earrings. When she's performing, Pizzazz wears purple and pink stage makeup. The design varies slightly, but she generally has winged eyeshadow, drawn-on eyebrows, and either lightning bolts or slashes leading down her cheeks, reminiscent of her cartoon design. Personality Pizzazz has a very rude and abrasive personality and becomes easily jealous - particularly when Jem is involved. She has trouble showing any sort of weakness, and appears to be a bit of a perfectionist. She has a terrible temper and often argues even with her own band, but she shows them she cares about them in her own way. She's fairly professional, always keeping the best interests of the band in mind and trying to promote a good image for the band. Relationships Family Pizzazz and her father have a distant relationship. Harvey is pre-occupied with his business to the point where Pizzazz can hardly get in contact with him. He also refuses to acknowledge that Pizzazz is successful on her own and would rather throw money at her than listen to her concerns. Pizzazz tries to encourage a closer relationship, to no avail. Jem and The Holograms, Issue 14 Bandmates :"I lost my family. I built a new one. We're a hot mess. We're also amazing. And I'll be damned if I'm gonna let anyone break us up now." —The Misfits #1 Pizzazz is very close to her bandmates, who she cares deeply for despite the fact they often argue. She considers them her family. The Misfits, Issue 1 Pizzazz struggles to show affection or positive feelings outright, but this is something that the Misfits recognise. They were the first to rush to her bedside in hospital after her car accident Jem and The Holograms, Issue 10. She falls into a deep depression and feels rejected and isolated when she is left behind during The Misfits' tour because she is unable to perform. Jem and The Holograms, Issue 12 Redesign Pizzazz's IDW design has been updated from her cartoon incarnation. In the original cartoon, Pizzazz was voiced by Patricia Alice Albrecht and first appeared in the 1985 episode The Beginning. Pizzazz's outfit on her bio page is a slightly updated version of her signature look from both the cartoon and her 1986 doll. Unlike her cartoon counterpart, Pizzazz has eyebrows in the comic. Pizzazz was much more antagonistic in the cartoon, where she was obsessively determined to sabotage Jem and the Holograms. Many of her sabotage attempts ended in near disaster. This was toned down in the comic, although there were still a few near misses Jem and The Holograms, Issue 23 She's still determined to bring down Jem and the Holograms in the comic, but she also recognizes when it's time to agree to temporarily set aside that rivalry. Jem and The Holograms, Issue 16 Infinite, Issue 5 Unlike the cartoon, The Misfits were already an established band well before the series began. The Misfits, Issue 1 Gallery IDW_Pizzazz.png Issue 4 Cover logoless.png Young Pizzazz.png|Teenage Pizzazz, as seen in The Misfits #1 Pizzazz at Rockys.png|Pizzazz at a club in Issue #18 Pizzazz Disguise Skeleton.png|Pizzazz in disguise, as seen in Issue #8 Pizzazz Disguise Waitress.png|Pizzazz in disguise, as seen in Issue #22 Appeared In *Issue #2 *Issue #3 *Issue #4 *Issue #5 *Issue #6 *Issue #7 *Issue #8 *Issue #9 *Issue #10 *Issue #11 *Issue #12 *Issue #13 *Issue #14 *Issue #15 *Issue #16 *Issue #17 *Issue #18 *Issue #19 *Issue #20 *Issue #21 *Issue #22 *Issue #23 *The Misfits #1 *The Misfits #2 *The Misfits #3 *The Misfits #4 *The Misfits #5 *Infinite #1 *Infinite #2 *Infinite #4 *Infinite #5 *Infinite #6 *Dimensions #1 *Dimensions #2 *Dimensions #3 *Dimensions #4 *Holiday Special *Valentines Day Special *Outrageous Annual #1 *Outrageous Annual #2 Trivia *Pizzazz has a Siamese cat called Madmartigan, nicknamed Mads. *Pizzazz is a fan of classic movies, notably Willow Jem and The Holograms, Issue 11 and the original Karate Kid Jem and The Holograms, Issue 9. *Pizzazz is Jewish. Jem and The Holograms Holiday Special http://mooncalfe.tumblr.com/post/147072940145/Sophie Campbell on Tumblr: IDW Jem Ethnicities References Navigation Category:Female Characters Category:Main Characters Category:The Misfits Category:Rebooted Characters